I disembarked in Dun Laoghaire, a little southeast of Dublin, quite excited to get on my way. After a failed attempt to use a cash machine, I hopped on a train to be greeted by some happy, young Irish lads and lasses gleefully yelling at each other to fuck off. Truly, poetry abounds still in this indomitable land; James Joyce would be proud.

After missing my stop, turning around and heading back to my station, I headed for my first choice of hostels. After glancing at the unintelligible note on the front door, I walked inside to ask about rooms, to which I was told that they had none. Nor did they know of anybody who did have one. It was after walking out that I managed to make out that the sign said, "House Full." Thus, I walked up and down the street, attempting to find a room. All the hostels were full. As were the bed & breakfasts. And the hotels, dorms, flophouses, YMCAs, spaces on the floor and, presumably, sewer grates. I buzzed the door of the only place I saw without a "House Full" or "No Vacancy" sign on the door, took the very last bed in the place and signed up for a second night there while I was at it. As fate would have it, the place was the Abraham Hostel, my second choice of places to go if the first one was full, which it was, so I’m one hell of a planner, aren’t I? Helpful tip for you, do not arrive in Dublin at 9:00 at night and expect to find a room. Though Let’s Go advises making prior arrangements in a great many of the cities I visited, this was the first time I really found this to be an abundantly excellent idea.

I fetched some dinner at a place called "SuperMac’s" and listened to an Irish DJ ask the burning question of the day, "Should we tip waitstaff?" and "Are we becoming too Americanized if we do start tipping?" Of course, I figured this pretty well gave me another green light to not tip the bartenders, a fact I found relieving, since tipping bartenders in the U.S. always does some extra damage to my drinking budget. Shortly after I finished my meal, my sealegs from the ferry trip finally kicked in (only three hours late) and I wobbled back to the hostel.